The Lack of Spirit for Service

Hi Readers,

I just realized that I never really mentioned in the previous posts what I was doing this summer. So I'll give a brief overview.

I am currently working at National Instruments in Austin, Texas. I am a hardware intern in the RF group, and I am currently working on validation and verification for some very cool things that are being worked on right now. When I tell people about my internship, the most common thread that comes up from other people is usually, "oh NI...don't they make calculators or something?" NO. That's Texas Instruments, not National Instruments. Even my dad said to me, "...are you sure that it's not Texas Instruments?" It is quite understandable, since NI is still only a medium-sized tech company, not like many of the tech giants here in Texas like TI or AMD.

However, even though NI is not a giant company, it is the perfect place to work. I love the people and resources that are available at NI for all of the employees, from the employee appreciation, to the culture of cooperation inside the company. I have heard from many people in different companies that foster competitiveness (such as Exxon or Intel), and I think I would not really fit in at one of those companies, because they lack the human element that makes a good team.

This blog post is just somewhat of a rant on human nature that I've been observing among the interns at NI. As I am currently the intern service committee chair, I am in charge of making sure that service activities happen. However, it is so frustrating to see the lack of desire for service in the interns. They seem just so apathetic to service work of any kind. I have heard the phrase here so often, "volunteering is just not my thing." Why not? You'll spend your precious time on Facebook or partying, but you can't even spare 2 hours to do some volunteer work? How misguided are your priorities?

The moment I fully realized that people out in the real world are selfish, despite their friendliness, was the first moment that I felt so lucky to have experienced Engineers Without Borders. I am so lucky to have been surrounded by people with such open hearts, people who dedicate so much of their lives to the pursuit of perfection, not only for themselves, but for other people as well. I feel like, through joining EWB, I have dodged a bullet. The bullet of apathy and self-centeredness. Though I understand that people have different priorities, I hate seeing time and potential wasted. If they are discovering the cure for cancer or learning new knowledge, fine. But to waste time on Facebook and then to diss service work as a waste of time, just makes me so angry.

How is it that, despite having 200+ interns, only 2 showed up to a volunteer event? And it wasn't even a boring event - it was taking apart computers and recycling their components. I would have expected engineers to jump at this chance. But instead I was disappointed yet again by the turnout. If it wasn't for the fact that so many full-time NI employees showed up, it would have been a complete disaster. That by itself showed me the citizenship that NI employees felt, and the culture of service in the company.

People are living life as they see fit. I respect that. But I pity these people who live a self-centered life, without realizing the fullness in living a life of service. In the Chinese proverb, they are like frogs who live at the bottom of a well and believe that the well is all there exists in the world. There's a whole world out there. If only people would open their hearts, and climb up the rope that leads out of the well, they will discover the joys of service, and welcome it into their hearts.

-FCDH

Harry Potter's Reality

Hi Readers,

On Monday, I went to the Alamo Draft House to watch the last Harry Potter movie. The Alamo Draft House is a famous place to watch movies in Austin, where you can order foods and drinks during the movie and then waiters or waitresses will bring them to you. It's essentially a restaurant-styled theater. I tried "Butterbeer" there, which was a weird mix of apple cider and other things (including alcohol). It was pretty good and weird at the same time.

The movie itself was visually awesome. I didn't see the 1st installment of the Harry Potter 7th movie, so I was slightly worried that I would be disappointed with the break in the plot line. However, the movie turned out much better than I had expected, and some scenes in the film were really awe inspiring. I walked out of the theater with a fresh dose of "I wish magic really existed in the world..." as I usually do after sci-fi or fantasy movies.

However, on the way home, a thought struck me - why is the book series so "perfect"? How come everyone can afford to go to school? Even the "poor" Weasley family could afford to send all their children to school. Sure, it was with hand-me-downs, but still - it's not about the haves and have-nots, but rather about the haves and have-mores. What happens to the kids who cannot afford to go to the magician boarding schools? Can they learn magic? Are they the antithesis to Mudbloods, in that they are born into a wizarding family but cannot use magic? Where are the magician homeless people? All we see in the books and the movies are people from the middle or upper class in the wizarding world. Do the less well off not exist? What about orphans who are not as lucky as Harry is?

I know that these are really not questions that are relevant to the actual story or book itself, but it does pose interesting questions for the state of children's novels, and the very nature of a book series. Harry Potter was originally intended for a younger audience, so from the very first books Rowling has made the setting very PG and moral, just like a good children's book should. The endings were happy and the messages that were in the books were clear-cut and vanilla.

However, as Harry and his friends matured, the series also began maturing for an older audience. The atmosphere became darker, good people began to die (more than usual), bad people began to escape, and the moral content began to become more muddy. Basically, things became less clear-cut, and Harry Potter turned into a much more accurate model of the real world. The Ministry of Magic began to model the inefficient governments in real life, people began conspiring and backstabbing one another, and even the very nature of the magic itself became more violent.

The metamorphosis of the Harry Potter universe from a palatable and childish representation into a mature and adolescent-based series is an amazing transformation. It is the reason why I can feel justified in asking the question that I do above - where are the homeless people, what happens to the orphans, etc? Children's novels do not usually instigate such social or political-laced commentary. The Harry Potter series represents a true Bildungsroman or character-building series, in more ways than one. The ability of Rowling to adapt her series is truly remarkable.

It really is the end of an era.

-FCDH

On Blogging

Hi Readers,

I noticed that this post is my 100th post! WOW! When I started blogging a year and a half ago, I did not expect to reach this point. I thought I would have dropped it by now, to join my pile of half-completed projects (some of which are to get buff, a host of programming projects, and other random shiznit). Instead, it's been a refreshing outlet, one that I treated as an extension of myself. Therefore, in this post, I will talk about my views on the practice of blogging.

For all the aspiring bloggers, there are probably several issues that you will encounter.

1. Time

unless you are uber-dedicated to your blog, there will be times when you forget about your blog, or simply cannot find the time to write a new entry. But it's fine! If you are just writing for your own pleasure, then there is no agenda and no schedule. You are simply blogging to express your thoughts and opinions. It's like hanging out with friends - you'll inevitably have periods of time when you say, "I need a break from this person for a little bit." But you'll always come back to it. Looking back a year or two afterward, you'll be shocked at how much you have written over that time period, or even how innovative some posts were.

2. Topics

This is my biggest block for blogging. One would think that, with all the topics under the sun to write about, that it would be easy to blog. NOT TRUE. When you sit down in front of the computer, with the blank screen in front of you, it is very challenging to hash out a topic right there and then to write about. You'll probably have to find inspiration throughout the day and record it down right away. Some people carry a note pad to scribble. Since I always have my cellphone on me, I have a draft of a text message that I use to record down all my ideas.

3. Privacy

This is linked to the important question of who you want your audience to be. If you want millions and billions of people to read your blog, you would probably choose different topics than if you want only your closest friends to read it. What links to your blog? Is it a visible but temporary Facebook status update or hidden in your info section but always accessible? You can let your privacy settings determine what you blog about, or let your blog topics determine how private you want to set your blog. Me personally, my thought process goes like this: "if they care enough to click on my blog link in the info section of my Facebook profile, then they probably want to know more about me." So I post personal stuff, but not too personal. But I NEVER let my parents or family read it.

In my opinion, is blogging worth it? Absolutely. I have lost count of the number of times that I've just sat back and browsed through my old blog entries. The most amazing part is to read it and think, "wow I can't believe I actually went through this." Writing the most recent post is always the hardest, and you'll always feel like the last post was better than the current one. But trust me, it's really worth it in the end. So give it a try!

-FCDH

The Birth of a New Nation

Hi Readers,

This week, a new nation was born: South Sudan! With its capital city at Juba and investments already pouring in from Uganda and Sudan, its future seems promising, especially with the news that it holds most of Sudan's oil reserves and that Chinese investment is already forthcoming. But in this case, we saw the Sudanese president Omar El-Bashir's willingness to accept the results of the secessionist referendum peacefully. What would have happened had he rejected the referendum?

Realpolitik in foreign policy suggests that nations always act in self-interest. The US and much of the international community has already shown that they do not care much about territorial sovereignty and democracy. This is shown by their tolerance of Israel's occupation of Palestine, the continued NATO bombing of Libya (they might as well just come out and declare open war on Gaddafi), or their rejection of the separatist governments of South Ossetia, Abkhazia, or even official recognition of Taiwan. At the same time, these same governments couldn't wait to jump on the bandwagon when Kosovo or South Sudan declared independence.

New governments and new countries are very malleable, and the western governments know this. That's why they oppose the independence of countries likely to fall under a rival influence. South Ossetia and Abkhazia were territories that belonged to Georgia, a US ally, and likely to be heavily influenced by Russia. At the same time, countries that are likely to fall into the US sphere of influence are heavily encouraged to secede. Kosovo belonged to Serbia, which has been part of the Russian influence since the Cold War. South Sudan belonged to Sudan, which has traditionally been heavily Muslim-ruled. If Taiwan had only not had the unfortunate historical distinction of belonging to China, a mega world player, it would have been accepted as independent decades ago.

For now, it remains interesting to see where South Sudan guides itself in the next decade. With a wealth of oil, it is very possible for corruption to run rampant and bring down the possibilities that come with the surge of resources into South Sudan.

Just a short post today. More later.

-FCDH